The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-07-06
MRS. SHARP'S SORROW.
She Tells of Her Long, Happy Life
With the Convicted Man.
From the New York World.

only twice during recent years mas FAVOR
been shown to prisoners in Ludlow street
Jail to the extent of allowing mans wife
to share his imprisonment Both of these
exceptions were in notable cases. The first
was when gay, handsome, fashionable Mrs
| Ferdinand Ward remained with her hus-
band to nurse him through the illness which
overlook him there. The second case is
| that now before our eyes-the frail, loving
old wife of Jacob Sharp sharing his con-
| finement
| To one upon whom such burden has
never come, the presence of Mrs. Sharp in
| the county jail with her convicted husband
seems only most natural and easy thing,
but it is proving to her burden almost
| greater than she can bear. Mrs. Sharp re-
mains beside her husband every highland
oil night-sitting by his bedside, eagerly
anticipating his every wish.
God gave me my dear husband" she
says to all who try to comfort her, and he
has given us great happiness together. l
| trust him."
| Mrs Sharp is a delicate woman, dignified
and charming for one who must certainly
be nearly 20 years old When woman and
a stranger sent in a card on Wednesday
morning word came back at once: Mrs.
Sharp does not remember the NAME but she
will be glad to receive you.n And when the
visitor entered the cheerful breakfast-rOom
U0dU LOOKS OUT upon Jlle III UL5
centre of the Jail Mrs. Sharp stood with
hand outstretched to a woman she never
saw before
"What can l do for you, my child?' she
said
There was no smile on the delicate, pale
face, and the voice was weak and almost
broken, but the look as well as the tone was
that of gentle woman whose first thought,
even i'll her trouble, was that she could ''be
nj n a
tional speech made the conversation that
would SO easily have been strained natural
and free. Mrs Sharp very soon spoke of
her dear husband as she always calls
him, in the tenderest and most unaffected
way. At the same time she spoke feeingly
of the burden that they have been carrying
together and which has seemed so unneces-
sarily severe. "They are killing us BOTH"
she said passionatey. 1--WE are old
people now, and every stroke tells upon
us" Mrs. Sharp speaks of herself
in this way, as if she were very near the end
of the days she might expect to be granted
her, but no one seeing her for the first time
would think of her as being odd" Indeed,
a man who has seen her number of times
about the Jail spoke of her as being about As
or 50 years of age. Her hair is quite gray
now and is worn in soft waves about her
face. Her eyes are gray and clear, real
womanly eyes. Her nose is straight and
fine, and the whole type of face is, as near
as may be expressed, that which is always
recognized as belonging to "a New England
LADY, Not the strong, determined New
England woman'S face. but the quiet, re-
fined, somewhat pensive countenance that
follows years of repression, thOughtfulneSS
and care. In height Mrs Sharp is about
five feet two or three, and in figure neither
generous nor slight. In short, take all in
all, the wife of this man, whose name is on
every tongue, is just the woman whom his
disgrace most cruelty hurts, but whose love
will outlast it all. Dignified, sympathetic,
loving and Christian woman, it is small
wonder that the bond between them should
be SO close. How close this bond has been
Mrs. Sharp's own words tell best Speak
ing of their happy life together she said:
I'VE have been so happy, my dear hus-
bandSand |. He has been everything to me
that woman could ask or desire. NV
every wish, my slightest fancy, it has always
been his pleasure to fulfill. Oh, we had
been looking forward so to next year! Fifty
years we should have been married March
% next.
"'Should have been,' Mrs Sharpe
eyes, yes, should have beenr 1t is kill
ing my dear husband before my ewes,
this terrible trouble, and | know that if
anything should happen to him | should
soon go too. We have been happy too long
for one to be content without the other
now"
"But surely, you do not feel so seriously
alarmed about Mr.. Sharps condition. He
is not worSem
Not worse perhaps in one way, but he
is so weak. No one but myself and his
physicians know how weak He has been
so brave about it, almost foolishly brave
1t has seemed sometimes to me as if he did
not realize what it meant; he has been so
strict about allowing anything to be done
| that could possibly be construed into a de.
sire for effect. He has not allowed
| me to go to the courtroom for fear partly
| of the effect it would have on me and
| partly for fear it would seem like irving to
| create sympathy. He has sat bolt upright
in his seat for hours when he was positively
unfit to be out of his bed, and he has been
| as CHEEKY and as helpful to me as he could
| be. Not even to me has he complained of
| the unnecessary things that have been done
| to make the disgrace more deep and in
famous
Even while she talked Mrs Sharp kept
| CHANGING anXiously at the room wherein her
| husband was trying vainly to get little
rest As she finished speaking the trim
young woman, who had been LAYING the
| table, motloned to her, but Mrs Sharp
waved her away. 1t seemed as if it were q
relief to her to speak, and speak freely.
'Oh, if they only knew him as | know
| L
| for nearly fifty years, and | have been his
confidential friend as well, but have never
known him to even think of doing anything
that was not honorable Even in the most
trivial things he has believed that what he
said he would do, he must do, and that he
would not say he would do anything that
was not right. He has been honor itself.
| He has practiced always what he preached
and he has tried TO bring up his children to
| believe and act rs he does y
Before ! go, Mrs. Sharp" said the visi-
tor, warmly, ''is there anything that | or
any one else could do for your
| "Nothing--nothing l thank You for
coming. It has been comfort to me. They
have been very considerate and kind to us
here, but it is a horrible substitute for our
home. No; there are only two helps for
my dear husband and myself now. One is
the lifting of this terrible black cloud and
the other is-death for us BOTH